Govt promises funding for bionics centre

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A re-elected coalition government would put $700,000 towards a new medical bionics centre, Prime Minister John Howard said.

Mr Howard said the centre, the vision of the winner of the Prime Minister's Science Prize, Professor Graeme Clark, would look at ways of helping those suffering from spinal injuries and epilepsy.

"The new centre will conduct research to help people with paraplegia recover from spinal cord injury, develop intelligent stents for coronary artery disease, develop brain implants to reverse epilepsy and create a new generation of cochlear implant and hearing aids," he said in a statement.

The Bionic Ear Institute plans to work with the University of Wollongong, the CSIRO, St Vincent's Hospital and industry partners to establish the centre.

Mr Howard has awarded the science prize to Prof Clark for his work on the bionic ear.

The prime minister said Prof Clark's work had already helped more than 55,000 deaf people in 120 countries.

Mr Howard also awarded the $50,000 science minister's prize for life scientist of the year to Jamie Rossjohn from Monash University.

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Dr Rossjohn is studying the shape of proteins, and his work has thrown light on aspects of immunology, asthma, multiple sclerosis and the performance of anti-cancer drugs.

Ben Eggleton from the Australian Research Centre for Ultrahigh Bandwidth Devices for Optical Systems was named the Malcolm McIntosh physical scientist of the year.

The Prime Minister's prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Secondary Schools went to Mark Butler from Gosford High School in NSW.

Alwyn Powell, from the Darling Heights State School in Toowoomba, Queensland, won the Prime Minister's Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Primary Schools.